Comet SWAN

This evening my North horizon was clear of clouds and I decided to catch a glimpse of this comet. In my location the comet is in a position which does not give much time for observing since it is low on the NW horizon just after sunset. Its postion is improving as its angle from the sun increases.

I printed its current position from heavens-above.com and found it with my 8" dob as predicted some 9' from star HIP74977 (mag +8.2) in Boötes. Although the sky was not very dark, the tail could still be made out. The comet nucleus had the appearace of a fuzzy ball.

As the month progresses the comet should get fainter but observation could be easier as it rises higher over the horizon.

Orionids

Last night at about midnight I went out onto the roof of my house. The clouds had cleared and the air was unusually clear, diminishing the nasty effects of light pollution. Orion was to the East well above the horizon and I kept a lookout for Orionid meteors.

I was not disappointed. Within a couple of minutes, first one and then another meteor zipped through from below Alnitak and passed through the space between Saiph and Rigel both on almost identical tracks. Both has a golden shimmering trail. Fantastic.

They were both obviously from the Orionid radiant, making them remnants of Halley's comet.

The Mare Frigoris

Of the photos taken on the 2nd October, The most successful was this photo of the Mare Frigoris area with Plato and Mons Pico in the foreground. A link to the large size photo, which is surprisingly detailed considering the unsophisticated equipment used, is provided below.

Link to Mare Frigoris large photo

Photo taken with Skywatcher 200mm dobson reflector (1200mm F6) with 10mm eyepiece, 2x barlow, digiscoping adaptor, 3MP BenQ camera. Single image processed with wavlets on Registax and autobalanced on Corel Photo-Paint.

More Moon Shots

I played around with the images of the Moon taken on the 2nd October. I am posting two of the results. The crater Plato and the Sun rising over the Sinus Iridum.

Moon Shots

With the waxing moon dominating the night sky I decided to experiment with some photography. My equipment is not sophisticated, a small BenQ 3MP camera attached to the telescope with a digiscoping adaptor. The best fit is using a 10mm and 2x Barlow. I am publishing two of the photos, one of the crater Copernicus and the other of the crater Tycho. These images are stacked, each from three photographs, using a program called Registax.